1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network server which communicates with a network terminal through a network.
2. Related Background Art
As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/380,633 which was filed on Jan. 30, 1995 now abandoned and is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 6-9565 filed in Japan on Jan. 31, 1994, a color management system composed of a CMM (color management module) and a device profile performs a color conversion process to perform color matching between input and output images by using a profile corresponding to a source device before conversion and a profile corresponding to a destination device after conversion.
The former profile is called as a source profile, and the latter profile is called as a destination profile.
For example, in a color conversion process shown in FIG. 1, a scanner color space (i.e., scanner RGB) or a monitor color space (i.e., monitor RGB) is converted into a printer color space (i.e., printer CMYK).
In this case, since the source device is a scanner or a monitor, the profile of such the scanner or the monitor is handled as the source profile. On the other hand, since the destination device is a printer, the profile of such the printer is handled as the destination profile.
FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of the structure of the device profile.
The profile is divided into a header portion and a data storage portion. In the header portion, information which is used to manage the profile is stored. For example, as such the information, there are device information representing which device (e.g., monitor) the profile corresponds to, CMM information representing which CMM the profile is used for, and the like. On the other hand, in the data storage portion, profile description information for discriminating the profile is stored. As the profile description information, e.g., information representing a maker name and a product name is stored.
Conventionally, the above-described color management system has not been realized in a network system. That is, the device profile and the CMM which are used for the color conversion process could not been systematically handled between transmission and reception sides.
For this reason, there has been a drawback that it is difficult to realize the color matching between the transmission and reception sides.
The present invention was made in consideration of the above-described conventional drawback, and an object thereof is to realize color matching in a network system.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a network server for communicating with a network terminal through a network, comprising:
a means for receiving a CMM (color management module) used to perform the color matching process and selection information of a device profile from the network terminal;
a means for obtaining or fetching the CMM and the device profile based on the selection information;
a means for performing the color matching process on input data by using obtained the CMM and the device profile; and
a means for communicating to the network terminal the color-matching-processed data.
An another object of the present invention is to provide an image process method which can calibrate the device profile such that a high-quality output image can be always obtained and is easy to be used.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the image process method having plural calibration methods, comprising:
selecting the arbitrary calibration method from among the plural calibration methods;
calibrating a device profile used for a color matching process, by using the selected calibration method; and
storing the calibrated device profile.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.